2007 VSL Game 1 report from The Low

The Low has written a report on last night's Vegas Summer League game between the junior versions of the Pistons and the 76ers. You can also read this report at BadBoySummerCamp.com. Here's the report, and feel free to discuss it in this thread.

2007 SL Game 1 Recap - Detroit vs. Philadelphia
by The Low​

July 7, 2007DET vs PHI – VSL Game 1

Well, to kick off this year’s VSL I bounced on down to Thomas & Mack with the girlfriend and brother in tow.

I noticed a handsome young man named LA Dre hanging out across the arena getting ready to enjoy the action. Spotted everyone’s favorite beat writer and caught a glimpse of Joe Dumars and Mo Cheeks.

This year we were hoping to keep a closer eye on certain commodities as some of the lesser members turned out to be ineffective at best in years prior. This year appears to be more of the same, so I would recommend that you prepare to catch up on as much as I can provide on Johnson, Stucky, Maxiell, Afflalo, Mejia, and Samb.

Points of note: Today’s game felt very slow and unfamiliar for a lot of these guys. I’m pretty sure this is mostly due to their not having played with each other for very long.

DET seemed to get very little out of there offensive sets and turned the ball over a lot more than they should have.

DET didn’t really shoot well to start the game, but seemed to take advantage of PHI’s dry spells.

DET also didn’t seem to be attacking the basket with strength (with the exception of Maxiell because that’s what he does).

PHI also seemed to be able to get some scores in the paint pretty early as Samb appeared to be late on a number of rotations.

The first half seemed very methodical and slow moving to me…very tedious.

I really hope this game isn’t an indicator of how well Stuckey and Afflalo can attack the basket and/or create their own shots. I was somewhat disappointed judging from all the excitement from some fans.

AJ
No Amir at this point. Still haggling contract issues.

Stuckey
Says that he patterns his game after Wade, but appears to lack the speed and strength. I was looking for him to be much more aggressive than he was. He seemed to dribble away from most double teams instead of looking to split or attack the weak side.

Afflalo
Hit a few shots here and there, but didn’t do anything eye catching in my opinion.

Samb
Appeared a bit slow and out of sorts today. He stayed near the basket and grabbed a few rebounds and knocked down a couple shots. However, he seemed to be very late on several defensive rotations. I’ll need to see his next couple games to see how this guy is rounding into shape.

Mejia
He didn’t really amaze me, but he did do a nice job of knocking down shots (including the game winner)

Maxiell
What can I say? Max was Max. He lead the team in scoring and was very aggressive on offense. I think the VSL officials really dislike him or something because he appears to pick up a lot of fouls that don’t get called on other players. He did a good job of knocking down his mid-range jumpers and attacking the basket with the same force we saw during the regular season. This year’s summer league will be the last for Maxiell and he plans to make lunch meat out of the competition on his way out the door.

I’m pretty sure that I am in the minority in thinking that today’s game was kind of blah as I understand the fans that caught the webcast enjoyed today’s action. For me, being there in person, the play just seemed very sloppy and the DET players seemed to get very little in the way of execution when running their offensive sets. I’m going to be looking forward to the following games to determine whether or not I’ll take a certain level of enthusiasm and/or interest into the regular season.

- The 2 starting guards, Afflalo and Stuckey, both played over 30 minutes but only had 5 assists between them. Some dude I've never head of before, Ibrahim Jaaber, let the team with 5 assists in 15 minutes.

- Stuckey had a lot of fouls - 8 to be exact. No one else on the team had more than 3.

- J-Max shot well, going 7 of 10 from the floor and 8 of 11 from the line

- Not a whole lot of blocks or boards in the game

Can anyone that was either at the game or caught it on t.v. add any more insight to these box score notes? Did Afflalo and Stuckey look comfortable handling the ball? Were Stuckey's fouls legit or more of the ticky tack variety? From being out of position or covering for a teammate?

You cannot go by box scores of summer league games as they are often quite poorly done (I'm certain Stuckey would have had more assists with a real score keeper). Stuckey had a couple really bad decisions/plays but several of his turnovers wouldn't have been to's with real refs. He was very comfortable with the ball and one of the negatives mentioned in the report is actually a huge positive for me. Stuckey recognized the double team early and effectively cut it off entirely by making the smart pass that often led to a basket or the pass that led to the basket.

We will have to let a few more games play out to properly assess Stuckey.

Louis Williams is just flat out lightning quick. Coming out of H.S. he was compared to Allen Iverson, just to give you an idea of his speed and ankle breaking ability with the ball in his hands.

Couple this with the fact that Williams has already played some in the league - meaning that he has had time to get acclimated not just to the rules but also the speed of the NBA - and it really doesn't surprise me that he gave Rodney some trouble.

Needless to say, I have pretty high expectations and so I often go into these things expecting more from certain guys. Same thing last year with Darko at VSL.

I roasted Darko and suggested they get rid of him while they still have value, however, Joe D felt differently and shipped him out just in time to get a pack of skittles in return.

I doubt, I'll win any converts with my view of some of these guys, but with all the excitement about the "next best things" I kind of want to be impressed by something they do. Especially in summer league, because if our new crop can't shine against VSL scrubs, they have no chance against the big boys.

Needless to say, I have pretty high expectations and so I often go into these things expecting more from certain guys. Same thing last year with Darko at VSL.

I roasted Darko and suggested they get rid of him while they still have value, however, Joe D felt differently and shipped him out just in time to get a pack of skittles in return.

I doubt, I'll win any converts with my view of some of these guys, but with all the excitement about the "next best things" I kind of want to be impressed by something they do. Especially in summer league, because if our new crop can't shine against VSL scrubs, they have no chance against the big boys.

Good report from the Low as I noticed he was doing his game report with his laptop in tow just like the other beat writers. Met he and his ladyfriend and brother and we exchanged our game observations. Enjoyed the game much more so than the games on Friday, but then again I had more of an interest this one.

There were three empty seats in the second row behind a bench where Pistons trainer Mike Abdenour was talking, so me, the Mrs, and my nephew grabbed them. Much to my chagrin, I chose wrong and was actually sitting behind the Sixer bench where I heard their assistant coaches and braintrust discussing whom is whom and who do they like. One of those was Mo Cheeks who sat their silently through most of the game observing at the scorers table, but in the end the game moved to the row in front me and to say that his guard Louis Williams is getting better and they need to play him more and more to get him ready to be the principle back-up Andre Miller. Cheeks also marveled how active JMAX was. Looks like former Piston, Aaron Mckie has finally hung up his sneakers as he was one of sixer summer assistant coaches.....

As the Low mentioned the only player listed on the Pistons summer league roster who was MIA was Amir Johnson who still has not signed.

The draftees were rusty in the first real game together and we can only hope that these five games will provide them with some continuity especially playing with and against the mixture of 1 and 2 year vets sprinkled in there. Stuckey had 8 fouls and we kind of joked that maybe he would foul out to ala Oden from the previous day. He reminded me a little of CB when it came to running the point, trying to penetrate from the left and not being able to run a fast break. I can see him improving though. There was another point guard out there, Ibraham Jaaber (sp) who was much quicker, but this walkon will probably play in Europe like 85% of the other players taking part in the summer league.

Afflolo, still appeared to be playing in that last UCLA game trying to find his shot, but alas a good pickup and his defense looked decent for not playing in three months.

Sammy Mejia was the pleasant surprise IMO and it is to bad that he will be going to Europe (I think I heard that) if that is true, I hope he doesn't get lost like Acker and Ricky Paulding did. He could like Roscoe indicated be a sleeper.

Samb>> As The Low said, kind of slow, but better than I expected. I still can't believe he was only carrying 190 pounds on his frame. Another 30 lbs and a little quicker and he could at least join Ronald Dupree on the Pistons back bench.

The Brahma did his thang, but his main objective appeared to be trying for the monster dunk. Looks like he is the inside presence we need, but Flip will have to recognize that this guy needs to play everyday and not spotty 5 mins every other game.

Other faces in the crowd, Danny Ferry running by every 20 minutes with his two young daughters in tow. Rick "Cola" Carlisle observing his former team and possibly hanging around Vegas for a future coaching job. (maybe he was there to support his "boy" Michael Curry

Spotted Joe D too, but could not determine who he was hanging with.

While chatting with the Low, we got a chance to give props to JMax and Terry Porter after the Pistons nice comeback OT win. Later I met Afflolo and Mejia and wished them luck in their futures with the Pistons and told them that the forum would be watching and documenting their moves.

Oh yeah Aurora/Kim, yes I had a good time in Vegas. Spent time with my mother, sister and nephew, saw some "raw" basketball hoops with some future NBA stars (and some legends), met fellow Pistons/forum blogger The Low and saw the George Wallace show at the Flamingo. Now it is time for that 3 hour drive back thru the 115 degree desert back to Cucamonga...

Nice video by Low. The man has talent. Funny that you got McCoskey in there. I know what that dude was probably thinking: "I wish this game was over so I can get back to the hotel, slap on the Aqua Velva, and head out to the strip club."